The 2001 Season
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ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT HOLMUL, GUATEMALA. PRELIMINARY REPORT OF THE 2001 SEASON Francisco Estrada-Belli (Vanderbilt University) With contributions by Ryan Mongeluzzo (SUNY, Albany), Molly Morgan(Vanderbilt U.), Katie South (Boston U) ,Dan Slater (English Heritage), Jason Gonzales (Southern Illinois U., Carbondale), Marc Wolf (T.I.M.S.), Kristin Gardella, Justin Ebersole (Boston U.), Britta Watters, Luis Salazar, Mynor Silvestre, Mario Penados, Samuel Vasquez, Angel Chavez, Enrique Monterroso (USAC). Vanderbilt University Department of Anthropology Box 306050 station B Nashville, TN 37235 CONTENTS: Introduction....................................................................................................................... 3 Methodology ...................................................................................................................... 3 SITE CENTER.................................................................................................................. 4 East Plaza........................................................................................................................... 4 Main Plaza ......................................................................................................................... 5 Group III, Court A ........................................................................................................... 6 Group III, Court B............................................................................................................ 6 Ball Court I........................................................................................................................ 8 Str. 13 Elite Courtyard..................................................................................................... 9 Stela 5 ................................................................................................................................. 9 Altar 3 .............................................................................................................................. 10 Group II, .......................................................................................................................... 10 Building B ........................................................................................................................ 10 Building F ........................................................................................................................ 10 CIVAL.............................................................................................................................. 10 T’OT................................................................................................................................. 11 RIVERONA..................................................................................................................... 12 LA SUFRICAYA ............................................................................................................ 12 K’O................................................................................................................................... 13 Conclusions and future directions................................................................................. 14 Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... 16 References........................................................................................................................ 17 Illustrations...................................................................................................................... 18 APPENDIX A, T’ot profile drawings.................................Error! Bookmark not defined. APPENDIX B, misc. profile drawing.................................Error! Bookmark not defined. APPENDIX C, ceramics sample illustrations .............................................................. 62 APPENDIX D, conservation illustrations..........................Error! Bookmark not defined. Cover page: Stela 5 from La Sufricaya. Photo: Justin Ebersole. 2 Introduction The present report summarizes the results of the 2001 field season of the Holmul Archaeological project at Holmul, Petén and other sites in its vicinity. This field season was made possible thanks to funding from the National Geographic Society, Vanderbilt University, the Ahau Foundation, and government permits extended by IDAEH of Guatemala. The HAP’01 team included 20 participants from US and Guatemalan academic institutions, 40 workmen and three cooks, and the help of several outside individuals. The field work was carried out between May 5th and June 30th 2001, and was followed by an extended period of data processing during the fall. The aim of the Holmul Archaeological Project is to develop and test new interpretive models on the nature and dynamic development of ancient Maya political, economic and ideological institution by analyzing the material correlates of such institutions in the context of a medium-sized Maya city of the Classic period. This research focuses on the archaeological investigation of the city of Holmul which is a key location in the region between Tikal, Naranjo and other major Maya cities. The site was first investigated in 1911 by Raymond E. Merwin of the Peabody Museum of Harvard University and it has the potential of providing an uninterrupted sequence of development from Preclassic to Terminal Classic times, of ceremonial, residential, burial and other contexts (Merwin and Vaillant 1932). We believe that through field survey and excavations, patterns of social organization, economic specialization and long distance interaction at Holmul will test new theoretical models of Classic Maya society. Specific research questions focus on the crucial historical, social and economic processes that led to the formation of dynastic lines at cities in the southern Maya Lowlands during the transition from the Late Preclassic to the Early Classic period (ca. A.D. 100-400). We are also interested in how the trajectory of architectural growth and decline of a Maya city can reflect historical and socio-economic processes that operate at different rates through time and space. How do land use and trade change over time during the Classic period? Is there any evidence from the perspective of a long-lived medium-sized city that can help us understand the Terminal Classic period in the Southern Lowlands? These topics will occupy several years of multi-disciplinary collaborative research including several sub-projects involving graduate dissertation work by Guatemalan and US students. Methodology The goal of the 2001 field season was to continue the program of systematic mapping and excavation initiated in 2000 in Holmul’s site center and peripheral areas (Estrada-Belli 2000, 2001, 2002): Phase 1 1) Exploration and detailed mapping of the site center and 2) of the residential areas by survey transects; use of GPS and geo-referenced aerial photos and satellite imagery to guide surveyors to important landform features and possible archaeological sites beyond the site core (Figure 1). 3 3) Investigate site chronology and architectural development through recording of looters' trenches profiles and test pit excavations Phase 2 4) Mapping of outlying minor centers within a 6 km radius. 5) Expanded archaeological excavations through axial trenching on plaza structures and sub-floor excavations within the site center. 6) Excavations at outlying minor centers, 7) stabilizing looted or damaged structures, 8) analysis of artifact chronology, manufacture technology, and long-distance interaction, using ceramic and stone tool data. Phase 3 9) Further expanded investigation of site center and outliers through large area clearings, trenching and sub-floor testing to include full range of architectural types, function and sizes in public and residential contexts. 10) stabilize architecture exposed by archaeological excavations. During the 2001 season mapping was continued in the site center, adding detail to the maps of Groups I and III and further expanding the mapped area of the East plaza. 250 m transects were mapped from the site center up to 1 km outwards in the four cardinal directions. Mapping was also carried out at the minor centers of Cival, T’ot, La Sufricaya, Riverona, and K’o. Excavations were placed in the East and Main plazas, near Group I, in Ball-Court I, in an elite courtyard (Str.13), on Group III Courts A and B and at other locations in the site center. These produced several important discoveries, including midden deposits, plaza floors, a ball-game marker, and a complex “throne room” (Group III Court B). Excavations and looters’ trenches were also recorded at La Sufricaya and T’ot, which uncovered carved monuments, large stucco masks, and mural paintings of some significance beyond the local Holmul context. SITE CENTER East Plaza The East Plaza is about 1 hectare in area and 130 by 68m, bounded by Ruin X to the west, Structure 7 on the east, Structure 5 to the north and Structure 46 on the south (Figure 2, 3). The paired layout of Ruin X and Structure 7 appears to match the model of Late Preclassic Group E at Uaxactun, and Tikal’s Mundo Perdido, as well as the Late Classic version of the same model known from several Eastern Petén sites as Complejo Ritual Publico (see Fialko 1988: 13-21; formerly known as “E-Groups”). In addition, three stelae (1, 2, 12) and two altars are located in this plaza along E-W and N-S axes and three fragments of monuments are